WLAX Falls to No. 10 Denver in Regular Season Finale

DENVER, Colo. — The Marquette women's lacrosse team (8-9, 3-2 BIG EAST) concluded its regular season with an 18-9 loss against No. 10 Denver Saturday afternoon at Peter Barton Stadium.

With the seeds for next week's BIG EAST Tournament now locked into place, Marquette will enter the postseason with its highest-ever tournament seeding. The 2-seed Golden Eagles will face the 3-seed Georgetown Hoyas in the semifinal round on Thursday, April 5, at 5 p.m. CT in Denver. When the teams met on April 24, MU posted a 14-12 win at Valley Fields.

The Golden Eagles came out firing in the first quarter as they opened up a 4-2 lead through the first 15 minutes, but the Pioneers were able to gain momentum with five-straight scores of their own. MU senior attacker Shea Garcia broke the streak, followed by a free position goal by freshman attacker Meg Bireley.

After trailing 10-6 at the half, MU was held to just one third quarter score by the league's top defense as Denver continued to gain separation. The Golden Eagles tacked on two more goals in the fourth quarter, but were unable to make up any ground as they fell in the reguar season finale.

MU was led by the duo of Garcia and senior midfielder Lydia Foust, who each finished with three goals, while Foust added on a pair of assists as well. Amanda Rumsey played all 60 minutes in goal for Marquette, making five saves while facing 23 shots.

Scoring a free position goal with :18 remaining in the third quarter, Shea Garcia tied the program record for free position goals in a season with 11. Grace Gabriel is the only other MU player to accomplish that, doing so in 2017.

The Pioneers (15-2, 5-0 BIG EAST) were paced by Lauren Black, who totaled seven points on four goals and three assists.

UP NEXT: Marquette will face 3-seed Georgetown in the BIG EAST Tournament semifinals on Thursday, April 5, at 5 p.m. CT in Denver. The game will be streamed by FloSports with links to a stream and live stats will be available on GoMarquette.com.

Keep up with the Marquette women's lacrosse program all season long through social media by following on Twitter (@MarquetteWLax) and Instagram (@MarquetteWLax) and `liking' on Facebook (/MarquetteWLax).